Chicago battalion chief led with quiet confidence

`Uncle Buck' killed in Downstate crash

Even in a blazing building, Battalion Chief James Buckley exuded a calm and confidence that reassured his crew.

"He didn't talk loud, didn't have to," said Danny `Woody' Woodville, who served alongside Buckley in the Chicago Fire Department for 17 years. "He knew his stuff. We listened."

On Sunday afternoon, Buckley, 57, of Chicago, was killed with his longtime girlfriend Janet Vojtas, 56, also of Chicago, in a car crash on Interstate Highway 55 just outside of St. Louis.

According to Illinois State Police, Buckley was driving north in his vintage, 1963 Oldsmobile convertible near Edwardsville when he lost control of the car, swerved across the median and struck a southbound car, killing its three occupants.

As of Tuesday evening, the Madison County coroner's office was still reviewing forensic evidence from the accident scene and had not officially released the other victims' identities. But by Monday, word of the wreck had reached Buckley's friends and colleagues who remembered the qualities that made the 35-year veteran of the Fire Department such an exceptional leader.

"He always kept his calm in extreme conditions, never lost his head," said Lt. Dan Lally, 48, a colleague of Buckley's for more than 15 years. "He was a good man, a good teacher."

From 1986 until he was promoted to battalion chief in May, Buckley served as a captain in the firehouse at 412 N. Kedzie Ave., which housed Truck 36 and Engine 44. To his crew, Buckley was simply `Uncle Buck,' a soft-spoken professional who rarely raised his voice, but always had their attention.

"When we got back from a fire, he would sit us down in the kitchen, get us to talk about how we handled things," remembered Woodville, 42. "There were always things we could do better. He wanted us to learn from our mistakes."

One of Buckley's great loves, Lally said, was the antique car he was driving at the time of the accident. He was often seen driving the streets of Edison Park, cruising with the top down and sun shining.

"You could see into it when he was driving around," Lally said. "It looked like he kept it in pretty good shape. He didn't bring it into work, but we knew he took it on road trips."

On Tuesday, Fire Commissioner Cortez Trotter offered his condolences to the Buckley family and said the department had lost "a great friend, firefighter and chief."

Lally and other firefighters will retain their fond memories of Buckley.

"We fought a lot of fires together and we came back from every one of them," Woodville said. "I don't know what more I can say than that."